Continuous Deployment with Vercel & Heroku

Continuous Deployment (CD) means every push to your main branch (or selected branches) is automatically built, tested, and deployed to production—no manual steps needed.

Vercel and Heroku both support seamless CD, but they target different kinds of applications and workflows.

1. What Vercel and Heroku Are Best For

Vercel

Best for frontend apps (Next.js, React, Svelte, Vue, static sites)

Serverless functions included

Integrates deeply with GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket

Automatic preview deployments for each PR

Zero-config for most frontend frameworks

Use Case: Modern full-stack apps built with Next.js.

Heroku

Best for backend apps (Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, Java)

Persistent app servers (Dynos)

Supports relational databases (Postgres)

Works with container deployments (Heroku Container Registry)

Use Case: APIs, microservices, worker jobs, or monolithic backends.

2. Continuous Deployment with Vercel

Vercel makes CI/CD extremely simple—most apps deploy automatically just by connecting your Git repo.

Step-by-Step Setup (Vercel)

1. Connect GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket

Log into Vercel → Import Project

Select your repository

Vercel creates a build + deploy pipeline automatically.

2. Configure Build Settings

Vercel auto-detects:

Next.js

React

Vue

Svelte

Astro

Static sites

You can override settings via vercel.json (optional).

3. Enable Continuous Deployment

CD is enabled by default:

Action Result

Push to any branch Vercel triggers a preview deployment

Merge/push to main Vercel deploys to production

4. Use Environment Variables

Set them under:

Project → Settings → Environment Variables

Vercel supports:

Development

Preview

Production

5. Preview Deployments

Every pull request automatically gets a live preview URL:

https://your-branch-name--your-project.vercel.app

This is ideal for:

QA

Design reviews

Product demos

Team collaboration

6. Production Deployment

Once a PR is merged into main, Vercel pushes directly to production—no manual steps needed.

3. Continuous Deployment with Heroku

Heroku suits backend projects or full-stack apps with servers, workers, and more complex runtime needs.

Step-by-Step Setup (Heroku)

1. Connect Heroku to GitHub

Go to Heroku Dashboard

Choose your app

Go to Deploy tab

Select GitHub as Deployment Method

Connect to your repository

2. Enable Automatic Deployments

In the same Deploy tab:

Choose the branch (usually main)

Click Enable Automatic Deploys

Heroku will build & deploy the app every time you push.

3. Heroku Build Steps

Depending on your project, Heroku will:

Install dependencies (npm install, pip install, etc.)

Run the buildpack (e.g., Node.js, Python, Ruby)

Build assets (if required)

Launch the dyno processes

4. Procfile (for Heroku apps that need one)

Example Node.js Procfile:

web: node server.js

Example Python (Flask):

web: gunicorn app:app

5. Environment Variables

Set these in:

Settings → Config Vars

This includes:

API keys

Database URLs

Secrets

6. Pipelines & Review Apps

Heroku Pipelines let you manage:

Development

Staging

Production

When connected to GitHub, Heroku can create Review Apps, which work like Vercel Preview Deployments.

4. Feature Comparison: Vercel vs. Heroku for CI/CD

Feature Vercel Heroku

Best for Frontend, serverless Backend, APIs, full-stack servers

Preview deployments ✔ Automatic ✔ With Review Apps

Server model Serverless Dynos (server processes)

Cron/Workers Limited ✔ Full support

Databases External Built-in (Heroku Postgres)

Scaling Automatic Manual or auto-scaling

Config Mostly zero-config May require Procfile

5. Full Stack Workflow: Vercel + Heroku Together

Many companies use them together:

Frontend → Deploy to Vercel

Backend API → Deploy to Heroku

Why this setup works well:

Vercel optimizes static/frontend hosting + serverless APIs

Heroku handles database-backed services and long-running processes

6. Example Workflow for a Real Application

1. Developer pushes to GitHub

frontend/ → triggers Vercel preview

backend/ → triggers Heroku review app

2. QA tests previews

Both preview environments run independently.

3. Developer merges PR

Vercel deploys frontend to production

Heroku deploys backend to production

Fully automated, zero downtime.

7. Summary

Vercel CD

Best for frontend & serverless

Zero-config

Automatic previews

Extremely fast deployments

Heroku CD

Best for backend apps or anything requiring a server

Strong support for dynos, workers, and databases

Automatic deploys + review apps

More configurable

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December 09, 2025

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